Mum fuming after stranger scolds her ‘out of control’ son while shopping

A mum has fumed about how her child was left "too upset to eat" after a stranger told him off while they were shopping.

American mum Hannah Sewell and her son, Caden, were out shopping for groceries earlier this month when he noticed a bag of his favourite apples and got excited. Hannah said on Facebook that he was "jumping up and down beside me", which, according to her, led a nearby woman to tell her to "control [my] kid because people are trying to shop". Her post continued:

"When I told you that he cant help it and was just excited, and even apologized to you, you decided to roll your eyes and cut me off. "And then you did something i really wasnt expecting. I'm not sure if you noticed it when you bent down, but Caden got excited again thinking you were coming to say hi. "He used to be afraid of strangers. We've been working on that. "But instead of saying hi, you got close to his face and asked him, 'What is wrong with you, does your mommy never take you anywhere?'"

Hannah recalled how the woman pointed out that Caden hadn't replied back to her - which is when things took another turn for the worse. Her post read:

"When I informed you that he is unable to talk, you laughed and said 'No surprise there, he cant even walk through a store', before walking away. "I'm not sure if you can tell, but you broke his f*cking heart and mine when you did that. "I left all of my groceries and walked out of the store. "I took him to Wendys, his favorite place. I thought he would like some nuggets and he loves the apple slices there because theyre different colors and he can line the colors up on his tray. "But he didnt get excited. He didn't smile or jump. He just sat there with the saddest f*cking look on his face while he picked at his food."

Her letter soon went viral, getting more than 250,000 reactions and almost 170,000 shares at the time of writing. Many people were applauding the mum for her response to the woman - while others sent well-wishes to her son. One said:

"I cannot believe the audacity some people have...he's an innocent little boy...how could someone speak to a child that way!? "My heart breaks for you and your son. Good work on being such a great mum and trying to cheer him up."

Another wrote:

"Man, you have a lot of self control being able to hold yourself back from telling that woman off... she had no right to do that to your kid. "I hope your son is feeling better and hopefully has gotten over that awful experience."